"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
‘We the Prisoners’: The Demise of the Fourth Amendment
What many Americans fail to understand is the devastating amount of damage that can be done to one’s freedoms long before a case ever makes its way to court by government agents who are violating the Fourth Amendment at every turn. This is how freedoms, long undermined, can give way to tyranny through constant erosion and become part of the fabric of the police state through constant use.
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That hoary old parchement doesn't mean a fucking thing since about the time of the Whiskey Rebellion (1792).
People need to quit referring to it like it was a real thing.
The only rights a person has are what counter parties agree to or what they can enforce themselves.
Both your above comments regarding John Whitehead's commentary meet soundly with my agreement.
1) People, especially "anarchists", need to "...quit referring to it like it was a real thing...", like "it" was a living, breathing entity.
I believe "libertarian" writers (quotes intended and necessary) need to spend a few hours reading the late Delmar England's "Mind and Matters" to learn how devastating to liberty the inclination toward reification amounts to. "Mind and Matters" is long, it's arduous -- difficult to comprehend. But, once I began (and learned to read between the lines to grasp the concepts) I could not put it down. I began to see why "libertarians" so often whine and moan and lament over lack of adherents to our "philosophy".
2) The concept of "rights" has generated much bickering and squabbling among us. To me, its use implies "jurisdiction" of some type that I do not believe exists. Therefore, I don't use the term. I could be wrong about that. I thought I was wrong once, then discovered my error. :-).
But I agree with you -- "rights" are only what we agree to -- and can "enforce". The man with the loaded gun indeed has "rights" (or woman, L-rd have mercy).
Sam